I'm on vacation until after the first of the next year, woohoo! I'm leaving today to visit my family in Houston, so I'll probably not post again until after Christmas. This one will have to hold you until then.

Identifying and fixing bugs involves several steps to coordinate as the bug changes states and assignees. Any team member with a stake in a bug needs to know what stage the bug is in at any given time. The customer will look to see when it has been fixed, the dispatcher will need to be able to determine when the bug needs re-assigning, and programmers will need to know when a fix is tested and accepted.

Therefore

Define and follow a life-cycle for bugs.

A bug can only be assigned to one person at a time. That bug may flow back to the reporter with a misdiagnosis or fix that doesn't work. The assignee may assign the bug to another programmer more familiar with the fault or for review. It may go back and forth from reporter to programmer a few times before it is fixed, retested, and resolved.